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FEDERAL WAY, Washington, March 23. TEXAS earned its fourth title of the meet as the Longhorns overtook California for the men's 800 free relay to close the second night of the NCAA Division I Men's Championships.
The Longhorn quartet of Dax Hill, Clay Youngquist, Kip Darmody and Neil Caskey clocked a time of 6:15.55 with a powerful anchor leg from Caskey (1:33.26). The win pushed UT to an NCAA-leading 12 titles in the event's history. Texas first started winning in 1988, and captured the relay crown in 1989, 90, 91, 98, 99, 2000, 01, 03, 09 and 10.
California's Tom Shields, Sam Metz, Will Hamilton and Ben Hinshaw placed second in 6:15.70 after leading the bulk of the way. Even team leader Shields exhorting his troops throughout the race could not hold off Caskey's monster final leg. Stanford's Aaron Wayne, David Mosko, Bobby Bollier and Robert Andrews took third in 6:19.19.
Virginia (6:20.97), Michigan (6:21.55), Arizona (6:21.98), Florida (6:24.38) and Georgia (6:25.30) placed fourth through eighth in the timed final event.
North Carolina (6:25.70), Ohio State (6:27.49), Texas A&M (6:27.88), Auburn (6:27.92), Harvard (6:27.94), Louisville (6:28.68), Iowa (6:29.33) and Minnesota (6:30.18) comprised the rest of the scoring squads.
California finished the day with enough of a buffer that the Golden Bears are looking good to defend their title from a year ago. California leads with 379.5 points, while Texas stands second with 343.5 points. Arizona (283), Stanford (277) and Michigan (199) stood third through fifth heading into the final day. Auburn (178.5), Florida (125), Southern California (119), Louisville (110) and Indiana (102) rounded out the top 10.
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